Suspending a 5-Year-Old for Bringing a Bubble Gun to School Is Apparently Now a Thing

We don't know when schools started suspending kindergartners, but apparently, that's a thing now: A 5-year-old girl from Colorado was suspended for bringing a toy to school, which, like, yes, she should not have done, but she's also 5. She should not have been SUSPENDED.

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The toy in question was a bubble gun -- you know, one of those little gun-shaped thingies that holds bubble solution and shoots bubbles when you hit the trigger? It was covered in Frozen stickers and also neon, so it's not like it could have realistically been mistaken for a gun. But the school said that it was its policy to give one-day suspensions to students for bringing gun-shaped toys to school:

While we hear and understand the parents of this student being concerned about this discipline in light of the student's age and type of item, this suspension is consistent with our district policy as well as how Southeast has handled similar situations throughout this school year. This has involved similar situations where students have brought items such as Nerf guns to school and also received one-day suspensions.

It make sense that they'd apply the same rules to bubble guns and Nerf guns and real-looking fake guns -- it's a question of safety and consistency, and both are key in a school system. But what doesn't makes sense is that they're applying the same rules to both kindergartners and high schoolers. In kindergarten, you get stuff taken away and a note sent home to your parents. In middle and high school, you get a suspension. Once, you know, you're old enough to have a better grip on actions, consequences, and what a suspension really means.

The mom, for her part, is upset because she's afraid the school will use this against her if it has any behavioral issues with her daughter in the future. Which is totally understandable, because that sounds exactly like something a school would do.

Honestly, anything involving toy guns scares us to pieces these days, and we're starting to think toy manufacturers should just stop making them for good. The consequences in this particular scenario were pretty mild, considering, but nothing good comes out of them.

Still, this girl didn't deserve a suspension. No, it's not the end of the world. But it might be a sign this school system (and others, probably) should revise their rules and punishments to be age appropriate, and stop treating a 5-year-old like a 15-year-old, when there's nothing similar between them at all.